AØKA08088U Advanced Development
Economics - Micro Aspects

The PhD Programme
in Economics at the Department of Economics - elective
course with resarch module (PhD students must contact the study
administration and the lecturer in order to write the research
assignment)

The World is rapidly changing and understanding the dynamics of
economic development is as important as ever. This course will
cover the microeconomics of development, and will focus on
approaches to understanding the behavior of households and firms,
and the functioning of markets and institutions in developing
countries. Since development is a field with a strong empirical
tradition, most of the course will be centered on discussing and
evaluating the empirical strategies used in the literature.
Moreover, the course will also (via exercises) provide students
with an opportunity for an “hands-on” experience, as results in
selected readings are replicated (and criticized) using appropriate
software packages.

General textbook material and selected articles form the core of
the readings. The range of topics covered include theories of
development, micro-economic analysis as well as key policy issues
and recommendations. Topics covered in course include: (i) Poverty
and inequality, (ii) The agricultural household model (AHM), (iii)
Agriculture and livelihoods, (iv) Doing business (industry and
services), (v) Health and nutrition, (vi) Jobs, labor market and
migration, (vii) Education and skills, (viii) Land markets
and property rights, (ix) Credit and microfinance, (x) Social
networks and learning, (xi) Risk and insurance, (xii) Coping with
conflicts and disasters, and (xiii) a “Hot topic”.

The course will therefore:

Provide the students with a critical overview of the recent
literature and important debates within the micro aspects of
economic development.

Provide insight into methodological issues that arises when
doing research on microeconomics of development. The emphasis will
be on (i) How theoretical microeconomic hypothesis may be tested
with data and (ii) how to identify causal relationships. One aim is
to through exercises to gain insight into what makes a good
empirical study.

Provide students with a “hands-on” experience on how to
replicate empirical results using relevant econometric software.
This will hopefully prepare students for original independent
empirical research and help identify possible interesting thesis
topics.

The course builds upon
knowledge gained during the under-graduate course “Developmnet
Economics”. However, although it is recommended that the students
have taken this course it is not a requirement to follow ADEMiA. It
is also recommended that the students familiarize themselves with
the program package Stata, as exercises are carried out using this
particular software. Links to relevant tutorials for Stata will be
available on the course homepage.

The format of the course is
a combination of lectures, exercises and student assignments. In
the lectures core concepts, theories, empirical measures and
methods within the field of micro development are presented. In
exercises classes students work in groups to understand and discuss
central papers in the syllabus. During the exercises students will
learn to replicate and extent central papers in the syllabus, which
will be of direct relevance for the mandatory assignment and the
exam.

Please be aware regarding exercise classes:
- The schedule of the exercise classe can be changed until just
before the teaching begins without the participants accept. If this
happens it will be informed at the links in the right side, in the
app myUCPH and at your personal schema at KUnet.
- If too many students have wished a specific class, students will
be registered randomly at another class.
- It is not possible to change class after the second registration
period has expired.
- The student is not allowed to participate in an exercise class
not registered, because the room has only seats for the amount of
registered student.
- That the study administration allocates the students to the
exercise classes according to the principles stated in the
KUnet.

The exam assignment is given in English and must be answered
in English.
____

Exam registration requirements

The students have to show active participation in the exercises
(done in groups) by handing in program files written during the
exercises. In addition, a mandatory written assignment (done in
groups) have to be completed satisfactory during the course. The
nature of this assignment will be described in more detail during
the first week of the course.

Note: In special cases, the written
reexam can change to another day. Or to an oral exam
incl. date, time and place, if only a few students have
registered the reexam, which will be informed by the
Examination Office.

Criteria for exam assesment

Students are assessed on the extent to which they master the
learning outcome for the course.

To receive the top grade, the student must with no or only a few
minor weaknesses be able to demonstrate an excellent performance
displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant
material and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies
listed in the learning outcomes.